Coating machine



R. B. WAY ETAL COATING MACHINE Filed Aug. 11, 1960 Oct. 29, 1963 Fns. 4

INVENTORS' ROBERT 5. WAY CARL o. msassv BY 44% W FIG.

ATTORNE Y United States Patent 3,108,537 CGATING MACHHQE Robert B. We 15% Chelsea Ave, and Carl D. Hersey, 3167 Marvin Ava, both of Erie, Pa. File-d Aug. 11, 1960, Ser. No. 48,5 99 1 Claim. (Cl. 1l1316) This invention relates to painting processes and, more particularly, to painting processes for articles of manufacture wherein the only paint used is applied directly to form the numerals, letters, or designs only on the articles which are to be painted.

In the manufacture of articles such as stove dials, automobile iiorn buttons, hub caps, and the like, it is common practice to paint a design or an indicia on the article. This heretofore has usually been done by shielding the areas of the article to remain unpainted by a mask having openings in the form of the design or indicia to be painted and spraying paint on the article through openings in the mask. Other designs of this type have had engraved surfaces thereon painted by spraying or rolling paint onto a part or all of the surface of the article, including the area around the design, then wiping the excess paint from the areas of the article adjacent the engraved surface, thereby leaving the design or indicia desired. In some of these aforementioned processes, the article is masked by a close fitting mask and excess paint is deposited on the mask as well as the article to be painted. Thus, paint is Wasted. There is as Well, undesirable contamination by the excess paint. The masks are expensive to manufacture and require frequent cleaning.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to overcome the difficulties and inconveniences of prior devices and, more particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus and process for impressing paint in the form of various designs and indicia on articles of manufacture wherein the machine and process are simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and simple, rapid, precise, and efiicient to use.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus for painting designs and indicia on articles of manufacture.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a method of painting which may be substituted for the usual method of applying paint by brush or spray and subsequently wiping off the excess paint.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of applying paint directly to selected areas without the use of painting masks or wiping operations.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consists of the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportions, and minor details of construction without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a partial cross sectional view of a machine according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the paint applicator die and the articles to be painted;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 With the paint applicator die in painting engagement with the article;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the painted article;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the paint applicator die showing the indicia thereon;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the paint applicator die shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of another embodiment of a device which may be painted with the method and apparatus disclosed herein; and

Patented Get. 29, 1963 FIG. Sis a cross sectional view of still another embodiment of an article to be painted.

New with more specific reference to the drawing, the machine disclosed for carrying out the method herein is made up generally of a die having indicia thereon for engaging the work, a tank of paint to and from which the die moves, a support for an article to be painted, and a mechanism for moving the die. The machine disclosed in FIG, 1 is shown generally schematically. The machine may be used to coat engraved surfaces on articles or to coat designs on flat surfaces. The part to be painted may be made of plastic, metal, wood, or any other suitable material. The article could be either molded, stamped, or coined.

The machine has a tank 15 which may have a suitable paint circulating apparatus 42 connected thereto by means of pipes 47. One end of an article support bracket arm 17 is attached to the side of the tank 15. It could also be attached to the machine frame. One end of the bracket arm 17 overlies the tank. The other end of the bracket arm 17 has a fixture 22 thereon for supporting an article to be painted.

An arm 18 is carried up and down by a piston rod 19. A paint applicator die lil is supported on the arm 13 which is attached to the piston rod 19 at 40. The arm 13 extends laterally, then down into the paint tank 15, and then laterally generally parallel to the arm 17 and has thereon a support 13 for the applicator die Ill. The tank 15 will normally be filled with suitable paint to a level 46.

An article 14 to be painted will be supported by the fixture 22. The article to be painted could be supported by any suitable clamping means which would positively locate it accurately in position relative to the applicator die lit.

The support 13 is made in a mirror image of the part design with the applicator die 19 made in a slightly thinner cross section than engraved depressions 12 in the article 14. A top surface 11 of each applicator me is cross hatched or serrated. The applicator dies 16 are approximately twice as high as the depth of the depressions 12.

A cylinder 16 is fixed to the machine frame. A piston 39 which moves in the cylinder 16 is attached to the piston rod 19. The piston rod 19 is attached in turn to the arm 18. When the piston 39 moves up and down during the operation of the machine which will later be described, at the top of the stroke, the applicator die it) will come into engagement with the article supported on the arm 17 and will deposit paint on it on the areas which are to be painted only.

In applying the paint, the die is lowered into a container of paint carried below the surface of the paint and then raised up out of the paint, the die being held in a horizontal position with the surface 11 of the applicators up. The serrations will hold a film of paint on the face of each applicator.

The die it; is then raised to meet the article 14 which is held in a horizontal plane, the depressions or engraved surfaces down. The article and die are brought into contact with each other, the applicators of the die registering with the depressions of the article. When the die and article make contact, the film of paint on the face of the applicator transfers and adheres to the bottoms and sides of the depressions. The die is then withdrawn from the article, leaving the depressed design filled with paint.

The up and down movement of the piston 39 may be controlled by an air circuit as shown, The air circuit is made up of a four-way valve 23 having a pilot cylinder of a type familiar to those skilled in the art. The valve is connected to an air source 31 through a regulating valve 26 by way of a line 33. The regulating valve 26 3 will be adjusted to supply air at the proper pressure in the line 33 to the valve 23.

The machine may be started by manually depressing a push button 43 on a valve 27. This will connect the main air source 31 to a line 32, allowing air to flow to a pilot cylinder 25 of the four-way valve 23, thus shifting the cylinder of the valve 23 and connecting the line 33 to a line 37 and connecting line 36 to exhaust 43. Members 28 and 29 are restricting flow control valves of a type familiar to those skilled in the art which may be disposed in the lines 35 and 38 to cause the air to enter slowly. This will prevent the arm 18 from slamming up and down. This type of flow control valve is common in air circuits of this type. Air flows from the line 37 through the flow control valve 29 into the line 38 to the cylinder 16. Air pressure in the cylinder 16 raises the piston 39, and through the piston rod 19, raises the arm 18 and the support 13. Valve 30 is open so air exhausts from above the piston through exhaust 45. As the die rises above the surface of the paint, a thick film of paint adheres to the top surface 11 of the applicators. The piston raises until the die makes contact with the article 14. The fixture 22, a guide rod 20, and a guide block 21 are positioned such that the dies 10 are aligned with and enter the depressions 12 in the article. The surface 11 of the applicator makes contact with the bottoms of the depressions 12 and transfers the film of paint to the depressed design.

At the same time that the die makes contact with the article, the cam block 40 carried by the piston rod 19 contacts an actuating member 49 and opens the cam valve 30. Opening of the valve 30 connects the line 31 with a line 34, allowing air pressure to flow to a pilot cylinder 24 of the valve 23, shifting the spool of the valve. As soon as the operator removes the manual pressure from the push button 48, the valve 27 again connects the line 32 to exhaust 44. Thus, the pilot cylinder in valve 23 will be moved by pressure in line 34. Reversing of the valve 23 connects the line 37 with an exhaust port 41 and connects the line 33 with lines 35 and 36, thus reversing the motion of the piston 39. The piston rod is lowered, dropping the arm 13 and the die from contact with the article. The article, the depressions of which are now filled with paint, is removed manually from the article holder fixture 22.

The valve 26 may be a pressure regulator valve of a well known design and the valve 27 may be a spring return three-way, cam actuated, or manually controlled valve. The valve 30 may be a cam actuated type valve and the flow control valves 28 and 29 may be of a well known adjustable type which can be adjusted to control the rate that the die moves up and down.

The cylinder 16 will be of sufiicient size to provide sufiicient power to move the die at the desired rate. Any other suitable motor means could be substituted for the piston.

The surface of the die which engages the work can be serrated or made of suitable material to carry the desired thickness of paint film. 'It could be sintered to provide porosity which would hold more of some kinds of thin paint. The paint used in the tank can be thinned to pro vide the consistency most suitable for the particular application.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 7, an article is disclosed having a concave surface 115 with 4 a raised surface 112 and an indented Surface 114 to be coated. The outer edger of a flange 116 of the article may be considered to be round.

FIG. 8 shows an article having a convex surface 215, raised designs 212, and indented designs 214 thereon. The outer edge of a flange 216 of the article may be considered to be round.

It will be understood that in any instance herein where the term paint is used, it is intended to include any coating material; for example, plastic coatings of all kinds, adhesives, inks, dyes, and other materials adapted for use as coatings on any known material.

The machine disclosed herein is suitable to coat plastic, wood, metal, or any other material of construction. The surfaces to be coated could be stamped, coined, molded, cast, forged, carved, or formed in any other manner.

The die referred to is an applicator which may be formed by machining, carving, electroforming, or by other suitable means. It could be fabricated from sheet metal set on edge, music wire, or other suitable materials. It might also be molded or carved from plastic, metal, or sintered material. It may be a negative or mirror image of the area representing the design to be coated.

For best results, the coating material must be relatively thin. The exact consistency can best be determined by experimentation and test to give the correct consistency and results.

The foregoing specification sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms but it is understood that the structure shown is capable of modification within a range of equivalents without departing from the invention which is to be understood is broadly novel as is commensurate with the appended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

A coating machine comprising a tank adapted to contain coating material, a cylinder supported adjacent said tank, a piston having a rod in said cylinder, an arm attached to said piston rod and extending over said tank, means on said tank above said material for supporting an article to be painted, and means on said arm for supporting a paint applicator, said cylinder having means thereon for moving said piston whereby said applicator is moved into said material in said tank and for moving said applicator with said material thereon into engagement with articles supported adjacent said tank, said means for moving said piston comprising an air circuit connected to said cylinder, said air circuit having means to apply air to said piston to move said applicator up until it engages said article, and means to stop the upward movement of said applicator and to move it downwardly until it is immersed in said coating material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 834,181 Bell Oct. 23, 1906 1,788,594 Robinson et a1 Jan. 13, 1931 2,199,265 Lohrey Apr. 30, 1940 2,490,902 Goodwin Dec. 13, 1949 2,905,085 Mercer et al Sept. 22, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 16,548 Great Britain 1912 701,045 France Jan. 5, 1931 

